e-Ink Machines

OK- here’s the picture.

An English-language FAQ says this is Jinke Electronics’ V8, mainly aimed at the Chinese market, which is planned for release later in January. It’s priced at about $299 US retail. It can display English-language characters but can’t read PDF’s.
The Linux-based V2, selling for $349 US retail, will read PDF’s directly and is planned for release this May (just in time to pass it around ALA, SLA and Canadian LA – hmmmm). It can also deal with txt, htm, DOC, Excel, PPT, Images, and MP3.
Wow!
Maybe 2006 will have e-paper readers as the ubergeeks cool toy of the year?
Of course between DRM and Sony, there’s still room to dampen this innovation for the short term.
Stephen